A Coat of Red
by AuroreMartell
Summary: After their failed rebellion, every rebel from House Reyne were supposed to be executed... except one. Nora is alive, in King's Landing, and ready to get revenge. But what she doesn't know is that Tywin Lannister is after her... Rated T for bad language. Inspired by "the Rains of Castamere. AU
1. That I Must Bow So Low

**A/N:** In case you don't know House Reyne's background: They rebelled against Tylos Lannister and almost defeated him, until Tywin Lannister succeeded him as leader of the army. He then defeated House Reyne, executing every member of the family.

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Nora Reyne throws down her pencil. She really _can't_ fucking deal with school, not now. Actually, "not ever" might be a good way to express it, but she's too angry to dwell on that.

"Write a paper on an extinct House," says the assignment on the chalkboard.

The problem is, when Nora throws the pencil, it bounces off her desk. And hits the floor. And rolls lazily until the septa in the classroom steps on it with her heeled shoe, slips, and falls to the ground. Her papers fly in the air, and Nora thinks, well, do I still have to do the assignment now?

So she laughs. And gets sent to detention for that.

Nora Reyne hasn't been doing so well in school as of lately. King's Landing High just isn't the right school for her. It hasn't been a good match. Neither had any of the four schools she had attended previously. Back in Winterfell High, at least there was that sexy Stark boy, Rickon, who was just as fucked up as her. But Nora made the executive decision to set fire to one of the school's weirwood trees. And got kicked out.

_There are no hot guys here,_ Nora thinks two and a half hours later. It's a public school in the capital city, proud of its diversity. So why aren't there and hot guys?

Oh sure, there are the good-looking ones. But Nora doesn't like the golden boy type. She likes the dangerous ones. Rebels like her.

Nora taps her pencil on her desk, letting her eyes close. House Reyne was once a proud house, a rich house with control of Castamere, in the Westerlands. And the bravest, in her opinion. The only house brave enough to be true rebels. Rebels who almost managed to conquer Casterly Rock.

But as the song went, _"but now the rains weep o'er his hall, and no one there to hear."_

Nora hates that song. Not "hates" like "I've heard it so many times I hate it." She despises it. The song made by those pompous fuckers about how they destroyed her family.

Tywin Lannister must have thought he killed all of her family, and he was close. As close as the Reynes were to capturing Casterly Rock. But just as the Reynes forgot about a young soldier who would succeed his father, the same soldier forgot about a young pregnant woman with a child in her belly.

_"In a coat of gold, or a coat of red, a lion still has its claws,"_ Nora quotes to the silent room.

Nora's mother died last week. At her funeral, Nora was the only person to attend. This was when they lived in Winterfell. Everyone from Dorne to the Wall had forgotten about the last two Reynes left in the world. One day Nora will return to Castamere to see if the myths are correct, if it never stops raining out of sorrow.

_"And mine are long, and sharp, my lord, as long and sharp as yours."_

The detention room is exactly like a tomb. Nora finds it amusing, in the same way her fucked up sense of humor skewers. It's like this school, owned by the Lannisters, is trying to swallow her up and extinguish the last traces of House Reyne left in this world.

Nora's mother wanted her to take the surname Algood, another house from the Westerlands, so the Lannisters who sit on the throne won't bother her. Nora refused. She believes, even to this day, that if she is executed like the rest of her family, she will do it with the name Reyne.

_Is someone supposed to come tutor me or something?_ Nora wonders. Not that she cares. Nora is failing all her classes. She knows soon she will be kicked out again, and since her mother isn't there to put her in another school, Nora will most likely spend the rest of her teenage life in the streets of King's Landing until she can rustle up enough money to get to Castamere.

For the past two days Nora has been blowing off homework to draw a poster of House Reyne's sigil, a red lion on a silver crest. Most of the septas here are too stupid to realize it's not a gold Lannister lion, so they don't bother her. It's Nora's little rebellion.

Nora is tall with what a woman once called "Lannister-gold" hair. Nora cut off two feet of her beautiful blonde hair shortly after hearing that. She was nine at the time. Luckily she has the straight, not curly hair, and dark blue eyes special to the Reynes, which is really the only thing keeping her from facial disfiguration.

There is a tepid knock on the door, and a girl walks in. She's a bit younger than Nora, her clothes more expensive and her posture perfect, her eyes wide and fringed with thick lashes like a baby doll's. But that's not what Nora notices first. She only sees the mop of curly gold hair and emerald eyes, and her blood boils.

"I'm Myrcella Baratheon," says Myrcella Baratheon quietly, "and I'm to be your tutor."

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**A/N**: Thanks for reading! PLEASE REVIEW


	2. Only a Cat of a Different Coat

Nora just stares at this girl. In a tiny shard of her fucked up heart she knows Myrcella Baratheon has nothing to do with what her grandfather has done to House Reyne, but she has the gold hair and clear green eyes that will forever make Nora think of death.

"_Leave_," Nora manages to grind out. Her eyes are cast down at her red lion, which somehow makes her angry. "Get out of this room and go home and maybe I'll be nice."

Myrcella is clearly afraid, but she is a Lannister. No matter what they say about her having Baratheon blood, she is a gold lion. So she sits down at a desk three feet away from Nora. "I have to tutor the people in detention today, I _have_to. My mother made me."

Her voice isn't whiny or anything, just determined, but it makes Nora furious. "Poor baby. Mommy made you stare at the ugly JD's for an hour, isn't that a shame?"

Myrcella literally flinches, but she her lion heart must have some sweetness to it, because she says next, "I'm sorry if you're mad at me. I don't know why, but if you'd like to tell me, I can... make it better."

_Courtesy is a lady's armor_, thinks Nora, and her heart gives a sharp jolt of sadness. Her mother had tried to teach her the lessons that she herself had learned when she was training to be a lady. The lessons she had learned when Casterly Rock was in her hands. Nora could have easily been Lady Nora Reyne of Castamere, possibly even a princess like Myrcella if they had taken Casterly Rock.

"You can't make it better," Nora mutters, but she softens her tone. There's something she likes- well, not likes, but she doesn't mind about Myrcella. She's quiet and innocent, unlike anyone in King's Landing, and Nora wants to keep it in her. She sweeps the red lion into her backpack.

"Okay," says Myrcella gently. "So. What's the assignment you needed help on?"

Nora sighs. "It's a paper on an extinct House. And I don't need help on it."

"Well... How 'bout we create an outline on it. Then we make a rough draft and then I can edit it. Then we can type it up and finalize it."

"Yeah, no."

"Come on, it'll be easy. What House do you want to do the paper on?"

Nora doesn't pause for a minute, not even to let herself think about the repercussions. Not that she ever thinks about the consequences of her actions, but today isn't going to be the day to start. "House Reyne," she says proudly, jutting her chin out.

Myrcella pauses, mouth open and then closed. She looks at Nora square in her dark blue eyes and says in a voice barely above a whisper, "Why?"

Nora doesn't answer. She pulls out the red lion from her backpack and smirks.

Myrcella breathes in sharply. Her hand shoots out, grabbing the lion, and crumples it up into a little ball.

"What the _fuck?"_ Nora yells. "That was a really good drawing, and you fucking ruined it! You _bitch!"_

_"_I'm saving your _life,"_says Myrcella determinedly. "You realize my grandfather knows that there's a Reyne running around King's Landing? He put a price on your head."

Nora tries hard not to react, but it feels like Myrcella has poured icy cold water into her stomach. "Come _on,"_she manages. "Why would the great Tywin Lannister be afraid of a little Westerland girl when he's practically sitting on the Iron Throne himself?"

"He's not scared of _you._But he had to kill your entire family, why don't you think he'll let one traitor go? Rebels are bad news if you want your family to hold the throne. We've got people spreading disgusting rumors about my mother already. The last thing we need to deal with is a Reyne."

For probably the first time in her life, Nora wishes she wasn't such a bitch to everyone she meets. "Oh gods," she says, voice trembling. "You're going to turn me in, aren't you?"

"Me?" Myrcella blinks, and Nora realizes it's a thought that hadn't come to Myrcella yet. It conflicts her, though: staying loyal to your family versus protecting a cruel rebel she had just met. "Well..."

"Please," Nora says. It's more of a whimper than a voice, and it's the first time Nora has said 'please' in a while.

Myrcella looks into her eyes. "I won't," she responds at last, and Nora can hear the lion in her voice. "I can't protect you, though. But I swear to the Seven I won't turn you in."

Nora lets out a great sigh. "Thank you," she blabbers. "Thank you so, so much."

"You're welcome," Myrcella murmurs. "I'm sorry about your drawing. It was really good. I can draw you a new one."

"No thanks." Nora pulls on her backpack. "It won't really be the same."

_Yes, now the rains weep o'er the hall, with not a soul to hear._


	3. A Lion Still Has Its Claws

After her mother died in Winterfell, the plans were already made for Nora to attend King's Landing until her mother's money ran out. Money was already tight- Castamere had plenty of gold in its prime, but obviously those days were far from over. Nora hitchhiked her way to King's Landing, found a tiny deserted alley behind a produce stand that she stole from for meals, and managed to carve out a life there.

The sun is setting over the slums of King's Landing, a sight unrivaled in its glorious irony. Nora curls up in her little corner of the alley- out of the way with a blanket stretched over her head for a room. She's getting comfortable, and even drifts off to sleep.

Nora dreams of a world, never seen and yet familiar, where it rains everyday.

The next thing she knows, she's being shaken awake. Nora's arm shoots out defensively and makes contact with a face.

"Owch!" Myrcella Baratheon gasps.

"Sorry," Nora says, voice bleary from sleep. "Why're you here-"

Her voice is cut off abruptly as Nora sees what she's wearing. Her Lannister-gold curls are pulled into a black baseball hat, eyes covered by gray sunglasses, and she's donned a dark trench coat to hide her slim body. If Nora didn't hear her unmistakable voice, she would never have recognized the girl.

It hits Nora several seconds later: why Myrcella is dressed like this, why she's snuck out of her palatial mansion to find Nora at what appears to be midnight. It's no friendly visit.

Nora grabs the girl by her slender, trembling shoulders. _"Fuck, _Myrcella," she says despite the way her own lips have seemingly turned to ice. "How... who... they found out about me, didn't they?"

Myrcella's emerald eyes are watery and soft. "My mom had installed security cameras in every room. Without me knowing. They've just caught you making your confession. I ran here as soon as I heard," she finishes, and breaks into tears. "I'm _sorry! _This is all my fault!"

"No, it's not," murmurs Nora. Her mind is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. "I have time, don't I? Time to leave this city."

"You can try," Myrcella attempts.

Nora stands up, fully awake. She knows that half a block down there is a ladder that she can climb to access the intricate roof system of King's Landing, where she can scurry atop buildings until she reaches the walls of the city. With luck, Nora can clamber down and make it out of the city.

Myrcella is still standing there, biting her lip. Nora glances at her, and in a voice laden with agony and guilt, Myrcella says quietly, "I can't go with you, Nora. I'm so sorry."

Nora nods. She feels foolish for ever have wondering if she, the princess of Lannister and Baratheon, could have escaped into a dangerous new world of notoriety with her. Nora, of the ruins of Castamere, blood of the last Reynes, future heir to dirt. A traitor, a rebel, a devil.

A single police siren begins to wail, and Nora tenses. "That's them," she says. Nora isn't sure if her voice is audible, but the same thoughts appear to be running through Myrcella's head.

There is a silence that falls over the two girls, and then, without a trigger, Nora runs. All she knows is that her hand has attached itself to Myrcella's, and Myrcella is running too, and Nora has made it to the ladder. She is helping Myrcella onto the roof before Nora gathers her thoughts.

Myrcella is panting hard. The moon lights her hair and turns her curls into a pool of gold and silver water as she leans over the edge of the roof.

"Oh gods," she breathes.

Almost all of the police in the town are there. They are wielding guns and torches and eyes, ablaze. Nora can hardly breath as one of the cops screams through a bullhorn, something about "get down" and "rebel traitor Reyne" and "in the name of our King."

Myrcella is weeping, and though Nora knows it is herself that will soon be killed, she feels pity stirring in her heart for this beautiful creature. She will be caught as well and gods know what will happen to the princess who aided a traitor. Nora knows she must do something to save Myrcella, for her own life is shot.

"I am so sorry," Nora whispers. "But I have to... do something. Bad."

"You can't get away," whimpers the princess. Her eyes are like velvet against the celestial heavens, a thousand times more radiant than any star in the Seven Kingdoms.

"I know."

From the way her eyes have changed from silk to glass, Nora can see that Myrcella understands what she means. "Goodbye," she whispers. "I'm sorry-"

Nora is halfway into leaning towards Myrcella until she realizes what her own body is doing, and why. But instead of stopping, Nora closes the space between them and kisses Princess Myrcella Lannister directly upon her full lips, in the shadows where the police cannot see them.

The kiss lasts three seconds, and then Nora pulls away. She cannot bear to see what Myrcella's face will look like, what emotions might give her away. So she wraps a protective arm around her neck and yanks her into the light.

To the guards, it appears that Nora is strangling Myrcella and using her as a human shield. "I'll trade you the princess," she shrieks, acutely aware of how calm her voice is. "If you take me to Tywin Lannister."

Nora is ready for death. But a red lion will not let itself be shot like a dog, not even with a gold lion in its arms and the taste of love and pain on her lips.

_A lion still has its claws. And mine are long, and sharp, my lord, as long and sharp as yours._

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Please, please review! I've already written the epilogue and am waiting to post...


	4. Now The Rains Weep O'er His Hall

Nora Reyne had never envisioned her own death.

She expected that she would be frightened, maybe even panicking. Unlike a Reyne of Castamere. She had wanted a dramatic death, full of fury and hatred at the Lannisters. She wanted to go down fighting the monsters who destroyed her life.

But now this Reyne of Castamere is experiencing her execution through quite different eyes. She is composed and calm. She is not struggling against the guards who hold her arms tight. She is as regal as she would be if she became Lady Reyne of Castamere.

She is not scared of death. Not even the pain of it. Lady Reyne is smiling brightly at the golden Lannisters, and wonders to herself if she is going insane. Lady Reyne thinks that yes, she is quite crazy. This doesn't worry her.

This disconcerts the Lannisters. The whole hall is amusing to observe. The youngest boy, the childish one, is crying and asking his mother, who is stone-faced but clearly disconcerted by Lady Reyne's composure, why his grandfather will kill this girl. The King, much like his mother, does not know how to react. The Imp is apparently furious at the sight of a lady's killing.

Myrcella is of course the hardest for Lady Reyne to see. She is struggling against tears, her eyes locked with Lady Reyne's as her blonde uncle assures her that "now we don't have to worry about rebels and traitors." Lady Reyne feels a sense of sadness. She remembers kissing Myrcella on the roof. Lady Reyne's thoughts come to her slowly, as if through syrup.

As Lady Reyne scales the steps to the podium where her head will be separated from her body, she notes the seriousness of the occasion. There is a mat laid over the marble floor to catch her red lion blood, a man bearing a heavy sword that he will use to strike her. Odd, she thinks detachedly, how her murder will not be public viewing. Maybe Tywin Lannister does not want to admit he let a lady of Castamere live for so long.

Tywin Lannister stands by the headsman, his eyes stony. Yet Lady Reyne sees the trouble in his gold-flecked eyes, the conflict, the way her composure affects him. She greets him with a pretty smile and a word of thanks for inviting her into his home. He is speechless for a moment. Lady Reyne takes this time to observe this man who killed her entire family. In the back of her addled mind where she is still Nora Reyne, gutter rat, she wants to kill him. She wants to know if he bleeds gold. But Lady Reyne is made of courtesy and insanity, so unlike Nora Reyne.

They tell Lady Reyne to kneel in front of them. She would rather sit, or lie down, she suggests. A red lion would not kneel to be killed by a gold lion, after all. A red lion would die in the hunt. But Lady Reyne is, after all, a noblewoman, and courtesy is now her armor. As she kneels, her gold hair brushing her shoulders, she can hear someone humming the tune of "The Rains of Castamere."

This makes her smile. Lady Reyne realizes this is her favorite song. Not because of what it means to her. But because of the first verses. Lady Reyne sings the song loudly, her songbird-like voice echoing off the walls of the throne room.

_"And who are you, the proud lord said,_  
_That I must bow so low?_  
_Only a cat of a different coat._  
_That's all the truth I know._  
_In a coat of gold, or a coat of red,_  
_A lion still has its claws._  
_And mine are long, and sharp, my lord, _  
_As long and sharp as yours."_

Lady Reyne stops singing. She glances into Myrcella's wet eyes and begins to mouth, _Thank y- _as the headsman swings the sword.

Tywin Lannister will one day bleed gold, for his is the gold lion. But Lady Reyne of Castamere is the red lion, and her blood spills over the mat, pure, Reyne red.

_Yes now this Reyne weeps o'er this hall, with not a soul to hear._

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**_A/N:_**THANK YOU so much for reading! You make my day.

If you liked this, PLEASE check out my profile! I've written other stories, and new ones are in the works!

Special hugs to seekingtomorrow, my first reviewer... She's an amazing writer, check her out!


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